Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Are You a Little "Jumbled" Too? - Part One

So now that you've had a few minutes to look over my blog, you may be thinking, What exactly does "jumbled sunshine" mean? Or maybe even. . . "Am I a little jumbled too?"

Let me explain by telling you about my past 24 hours and see if you can relate. . . This started out as "the short version" (NOT!) Honestly, I don't think I'm capable of a truly short version of this topic, so here's the long version of the short version which is actually the full version. . .

Tuesday started with a realization that there was absolutely no more time left to procrastinate Christmas. So my day consisted of online shopping. . . all day. It was exactly 1 week before Christmas, so of course I found myself paying extra for expedited shipping. Oh well, as the French say, "C'est la vie!"

So, 5 hours later . . . (yes, really.). . . I finally finished shopping (which I must admit was a ton of fun!) and added the final touches to the Christmas present spreadsheet I had created to keep track of who was getting what, complete with color-coded text fields showing me what was ordered (green), what was wrapped and under the tree (red), what was not done yet (white) and what needed to be urgently attended to (yellow). Those two yellow fields meant that I would be crocheting a LOT over the next week! Which is okay, because I love to crochet, and I will save a lot of money, but I really should have done this last month. Famous last words, right? haha.

Once that was finally finished, I stumbled out into the main rooms of my home, my eyes burning from too much screen time, and looked around me to assess what was going on and what needed to be done. The kids may - or more likely may not - have done their homework, but I'd have to check on that later, because everyone needed to be fed!

So I made a quick dinner of spaghetti while listening to Sirius XL Holiday Music on my Dish Network TV. It was great. I found my toes tapping and my hips bouncing as I listened to the old familiar carols play. . . anyone who walked through the kitchen joined in (or ran away in fright! haha!) I had only about an hour before family members needed to run out the door to attend the various activities of the evening. As the family gathered around the table, I threw together a quick salad with the veggies I picked up Saturday from Bountiful Baskets, and enjoyed the novelty of shredding some rainbow carrots into a bowl. As we dished up our plates, I spent time strongly encouraging everyone to put a few freshly sliced radishes and crumbled cauliflower florets over their salads. It didn't matter if you like them or not, they are good for you - so at least try a bite or two. (That's my philosophy and probably a good topic for another post. . .)

Once everyone was fed, satisfied, and headed out to wherever they needed to be, the rest of us who were left quickly cleaned up the kitchen (with the promise of some TV time when we were done) so it would be ready for my husband to come back and do a planning meeting with his Scouts. (Thank goodness it's the week before Christmas break, so there was little homework to be done! At least that's what they told me and I didn't argue because I was exhausted!)

Then we settled into the den for some nice relaxing TV and fiber arts time. I got busy finishing the gift I had made for my Dad and step-Mom last week, which I was fixing because I had made an error on the last 7 rows and needed to re-do them. . . My 15 yo daughter was working on her sewing project that had to be done by the end of the week or she would fail her sewing class, and vehemently complaining "I hate sewing! I don't know why I even took this class! It's all my soccer coach's fault because I had to take advanced conditioning, and so then I had to change my schedule, and ended up with sewing!" Hahaha. . . I knew she was exaggerating because she loves her teacher, and her coach. And she's a decent seamstress considering how little guidance she has received from her mother on the subject. And I also knew that she was really just upset because she kept making mistakes and had had to unpick her stitches at least 3 times last night (any seamstress knows how frustrating that is!) . . . In the meantime, my 18-year-old daughter was busy in her corner spinning roving into yarn . . .(yes, you read that right, lol) so she could use it for her newest project, which I found out this morning she was re-doing for the 3rd time, or something like that. Are we all peas in a pod or what??

So . . . we looked for a new show to watch because the last one we tried had a little too much immorality for our tastes, so we needed something new for girl-time. We finally settled on Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abby on PBS, which, by the way, I recommend with a few reservations - it's really captivating and interesting to get a feel for what life was like in early 20th Century England. The scenery, sets and costumes are stunning! The characters are charming (some loveable, some hateable) and the storyline is very addictive! But there are modern themes that are out-of-place to spice it up, and we fast forwarded a couple of times. . . you get the idea, right? It's technically TV-PG, but I would have given it a little higher rating than that if I were in charge - in other words, adults & teens can enjoy with the aforementioned fast-forwarding now & then, but I wouldn't watch it with my younger kids.

Anyway, so no less than . . . I am ashamed to admit. . . *three* epiosodes later, haha. . .it was no longer Tuesday and we were all exhausted! But the sewing project was well on it's way, the crocheted gift for my parents was ready to wash and ship tomorrow, yarn had been spun and washed and hung, and the den looked like a fabric/yarn/thread bomb had gone off!

The house was quiet because we had interrupted our trip into 20th Century Great Britain with gathering the family to share in a yearly tradition - reading from the family Christmas story book that my Mom put together for us in 1995 (one story, hymn and scripture for each night in December). After singing, reading and family prayer, all the sane people in my household had headed to bed. Now it was our turn. Of course, I was so wound up from my busy day that I found it a bit difficult to drift off, so I turned on my Pandora "Soothing Instrumental" channel on my cell phone, which I kept carefully tucked under my arm so I could hear it but hopefully it wouldn't bother my husband.

Five hours later. . . ugh. . . it was time for our morning devotional with our teens at 6:30am before the bus would arrive at 7am. You can imagine that this early hour was truly too early, but I managed to drag myself out of bed, thanks to my wonderfully consistent husband who always sets an alarm. So we read together for a few minutes, a little later than usual because several of us had trouble getting out of bed. . . I wonder why? So then the teens run off to get ready for the bus and I head back to bed and collapse. . .

But can I go back to sleep? Of course not! My body is wiped out, but my jumbled mind is awake! ARRRGGG! The horror of it all! (Haha, sorry I couldn't resist the drama. . . ) So I lay there thinking, and here's how it goes:

. . . I'm thinking about the scripture we just read with the teens and the significance of it in my life. . . which leads to singing an applicable hymn in my mind. . .

. . . so I lay there humming the song quietly and thinking. . . and pretty soon I'm composing a masterpiece orchestration in my head, worthy of being sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir of course! Which reminds me of the Christmas Music Festival we participated in last Sunday. . .

. . . "Hey, since some of our extended family will be here that night, we'll be able to read the Christmas story together with them before bed this year!". . . I start imagining us all sitting together in a darkened living room with the beautiful lights of the tree glowing on our happy faces. . . singing Christmas carols. . . (no one fighting or poking each other, of course, lol). . . "That's such a great tradition, I love it!". . .

. . . so I start thinking about a recent discussion at a mother-daughter activity where everyone shared their Christmas traditions. . . and remembering all the neat ideas I heard about that evening. . . "You know, some families act out the nativity with the younger kids, we haven't done that for a long time. . . maybe we should try it this year?" Soon I find myself putting a whole scene together in my mind, thinking about who could play what part, "I wonder if Steven and Diana would mind being Joseph and Mary? They would sure be cute!". . .

. . . which reminds me of the theater group my daughter runs in summer, since both Steven and Diana loved being on stage. . . "Hey, Jessica could be in charge of writing a play for the little kids to act out!". . . "But wait, how would they practice? Christmas is only 6 days away. . . hmm. . . I know! We could have them practice early since everyone is coming at noon, that would give them something to do besides watching TV the whole day. . . yes! I'll have to talk to her about it. . .

. . . Wait! I'm supposed to be sleeping! I'm tired! I need to sleep. . . okay. . . sleep. . . sleep. . . sleep. . . Wow, my brain sure is active this morning. . . reminds me of the new blog I started a few days ago. . . hey - the blog! Did I write yesterday? Let's see, I wrote at like midnight on Sunday evening, so it probably published Monday, so, yes, I guess that counts. . . " I start thinking of the blog and the layout. . . thinking of future posts. . . thinking of how several people have commented that they can relate to what I've written so far. . . "There must be thousands of people out there with a mind like mine that will really relate to my fun but frenzied life. . . it's a blessing and a curse. . . hey! That would be a great post!"

[FYI, that last thought wasn't in my original reverie, it jumped into my mind while I was typing this up, so I opened another window and did a quick draft of a post entitled "It's a blessing and a curse. . ." quoting Mr. Monk of course. . . okay, back to where I was in the story]. . .

. . . "there must be thousands of people out there with a mind like mine that will really relate to me. . . I need a place for them to read about that near the top of the blog. . . I should create a stand-alone page that talks about the characteristics of a 'jumbled' mind. . . I could call it 'Are you a little jumbled too?' . . . Yes! That would be really cute. . . "

. . . I start thinking about how I would place such a post on the blog. . . "Would it be a link at the side? Or a regular post for now, with a link to it later? Hmmm. . ." pretty soon I'm mentally adding various labels and tabs to the top of the blog . . . "Wait! What am I doing? I'm supposed to be sleeping! Grrr. . . sleep, sleep, sleep. . . who am I kidding? I should go write that post right now while it's fresh on my mind! But what about the short night I had? Oh well, I can take a nap later, I'm not sleeping anyway!" So I give up, get up, and head to the computer. . .

. . . and here I am! Whew! That was crazy! But it's pretty much an accurate description of my last 24 hours! Can you relate? Or do you think I'm crazy? LOL. There are several different reactions you might be having to this post. Read them below and decide which one best describes your reaction:

Reaction #1: "I have not a clue what this woman is talking about. She must literally be insane."

Reaction #2: "Wow, that's really funny, I guess my life gets kind of crazy like that sometimes, but it's not nearly as crazy as this lady's life appears to be . . . "

Reaction #3: "Oh. My. Gosh. That is so totally me. Wow, I think I could have written that post myself about MY last 24 hours!"

Which statement best describes you? In Are You a Little "Jumbled" Too? - Part Two, we'll talk about these reactions in more detail, and what they may possibly mean about your personality, your strengths and weaknesses, and what you can do to be your best self, no matter what your tendencies are. Who knows, you may find out that you have a little bit of jumbled sunshine running through your veins too!

4 comments:

Number 3 for sure!! Do you live in my mind? I DO have to tell you, I am much calmer now than I have ever been (even my kids and Uncle Ralph have noticed that). Some really wonderful women have come into my life that have patiently helped me to understand how to better quiet my mind. I must tell you, it is very hard work and takes constant vigilance. I really do love when I am in that glorious place though.

Just so you know, I have you beat with the Downton Abbey thing. Kerilyn got Uncle Ralph and I hooked and we methodically watched the first two seasons over about a month. Then, Brad and family spent a couple days with us in August and I introduced them to the series. As you say, it was addicting! We continued to watch episode after episode. Person after person dropped out of the marathon, but at about 4 in the morning Tiffany and Cadmium had completed both seasons in their entirety! Don't forget January 6th is the new season.....

oh my goodness! You do have me beat! Sounds like a ton of fun. . . And the next time we're together, we'll have to swap tips about quieting our minds. What works best for me is 1)listening to Pandora, 2)guided imagery with Belleruth Naparsek, 3)listening not-too-exciting audio books or talks, and lastly, 4) a friend taught me to count backwards by 3's to help fall asleep, it really works!

Our whole Ralph Bound, Jr. family has been in Wisconsin the last two days for our Christmas celebration. Last evening all the "girls" snuggled up in the TV room to watch "Call the Midwife" a new PBS series that has received great reviews. Uncle Ralph and I watched Season One episodes over the last couple months. If you love Downton Abbey you will also enjoy "Call the Midwife"!

Disclaimer:

This blog contains the unique thoughts of the author and does not represent the views, official or otherwise, of any group, club, religion, or family of which she is a member. All thoughts, suggestions, and techniques are for entertainment and experimentation only, and blog readers acknowledge by their participation that they are aware of all risks, inherent or otherwise, they are getting themselves into by following said techniques. In other words, the author is not liable for any disasters that result from implementation of the ideas herein. However, she will be happy to join in your celebration when you find success on your own journey of finding joy in a fascinating world of distractions! Please share your stories with our readers so we can all learn and grow together in our world of Jumbled Sunshine. :) ~Erika~